Delivered to the General Faculty of the Academy of the New Church and the Faculty of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, January 6, 1969.

THE RELATION OF THE ACADEMY TO THE GENERAL CHURCH

An Address by the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton

To understand the relation of the Academy to the General Church we must go back more than a hundred years to the time when a group known as The Harmony existed within the General Convention. The name had reference to their harmony of view in regard to church government. In this they differed from the prevailing view which was supported by the dominant group in the General Convention. There were also other, and even more important, differences centering around the nature and authority of the Writings, but it cannot be said that in this, all the original members of The Harmony were in agreement. Nevertheless, it was from among the more determined members of the original Harmony that the Academy later derived its membership.

It is quite apparent from the record that the primary concern of The Harmony arose out of their deep dissatisfaction with the instruction that was being given in the Convention Theological School. Unable to effect the reforms which they sought, they finally decided to establish a separate theological school, to be known as the Academy, in which young men would be prepared for the ministry of the New Church in keeping with the views held by The Harmony. For a full account of what actually took place during those critical years (1857-1876), I refer you to the Fiftieth Anniversary Publication of the Academy of the New Church, 1926, pp. 17-43.

In order to understand the relation between the Academy and the General Church at this day, however, two things should be noted here. First, that the strength of the early Academy movement was centered in the Pennsylvania Association of the General Convention under the leadership of the Rev. William Henry Benade who, in 1873, became an ordaining minister of the General Convention and the presiding officer of the Pennsylvania Association. Second, that at the time of the formation of the Academy in 1876 there was no intention on the part of those who subscribed to the Academy of separating from the General Conventions. Concerning this, Bishop W. F. Pendleton later said:

There was no thought in the minds of the men who organized the Academy, or wish, to separate from the existing bodies of the Church. The one thought and desire was to work with them for the upbuilding of the New Church in the world. The thought of separation came later under the stress of a necessity not foreseen, For the early members of the Academy cherished the hope and expectation of being able to continue to work with the bodies of the Church then existing, We were convinced that we had a mission to perform and a message to give, a message which we believed the majority of New Churchmen would receive when rationally presented. We had come to see something new in the Writings but little realized before--a glad message which would be gladly received. There was a sincere belief that members of the New Church in America, in England, and in the world at large, would be able to see what we saw in the Writings, namely, that the Lord Himself appears in them in His Second Coming, speaking to the New Church and teaching that those Writings are the very Divine truth itself, the very Word of God (Academy of the New Church, 50th Anniversary Publication, 1926, p. 13).